UK adspend revised upwards

24 October 2013

LONDON: UK advertising spend rose 3% in the first half of 2013 to reach £8.54bn, according to the latest Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report. Growth for the full year was revised upwards from the 2.6% prediction made in July to 3.3%, amounting to a total of £17.7bn.

The report, which is the definitive guide to advertising in the UK, also upgraded expectations of growth for 2014 from 5.1% to 5.4%, and said expenditure would reach an all-time high of £18.7bn.

Tim Lefroy, Chief Executive of the Advertising Association said: "These numbers suggest growing confidence and that is good news – not only for UK advertising but for the consumer goods, digital and creative industries it underpins."

Growth in the first half of 2013 was driven by internet pure play (excluding broadcaster-only VOD and digital adspend for newsbrands and magazine brands) which was up 16.3% year on year. In particular there was strong growth for mobile (+128%) and search (+18%).

Increases in out of home, up 3.1% for the half following a strong second quarter, and television, up 2.1%, also helped offset declines in other media.

Newsbrands and magazine brands continued to decline, by 7.4% and 7.5% respectively. Cinema (-9.0%) and radio (-6.6%) also registered sharp falls.

For the full year, internet advertising will continue to be the main driver, with 13.2% growth forecast. Television will see a boost in the second half with full year growth coming in at 5.3%.

Over the year, the decline of advertising spend in newsbrands and magazine brands will ease slightly, to -6.4% and -5.6% respectively. Similarly, radio will see a less dramatic fall of -2.1%.

Out of home adspend is expected to record a drop of 1.8% for the year as a whole, as comparisons with the successful Olympic period in 2012 come into play in the second half. The decline in cinema spend (-15.0%) is for similar reasons – it had a very strong fourth quarter in 2012.